Today Google released some helpful photography tips to allow mobile photographers to better take advantage of the camera hardware and software on the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL. Google’s branded line of smartphones already come with one of the best cameras on a mobile device, at least according to testing conducted by DxOMark, and Google’s latest tips will help you improve your photography game. These tips cover photo exposure, composition and photo organization and storage. The Google Pixel is equipped with a 12.3-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture, electronic image stabilization, phase and laser autofocus and a dual-LED tone flash.
In terms of the tips, to help your photo stand out, Google recommends that you expose your subject so that details are clearly visible. Good lighting definitely helps, but if you find that your photo is too dark or bright, Google recommends that you can brighten or darken your shot by sliding your finger up or down in the camera interface to adjust the exposure. The second part to a good photo is composition. If the background is important to telling your story, use a wide angle lens, but if you want to focus on a single subject, you can zoom in with the camera to crop out any unnecessary details. Another way to make your subject stand out is to use the Lens Blur option, Google advises, which will blur the background and keep the subject in focus.
Unlike dual-lens cameras on some smartphone models, like the Huawei Mate 9 and Huawei P10, Lens Blur on the Google Pixel is achieved through a single lens and software to stitch multiple exposures together. The effect, which is widely used by professional photographers with bigger, more expensive DSLR cameras, can be achieved through software on the Google Pixel. Just head into the camera menu, select Lens Blur, capture your image and then slowly raise your camera to achieve a blurry defocused background. Unlike DSLR, you can edit how much blur you want to give to your background, after the photo has been captured, giving you even more creative control.
With a capable camera, you’ll likely want to keep snapping. Thankfully, the Google Pixel comes with Google cloud backup, helping to preserve your favorite memories. Google Photos allows you backup unlimited photos at high-quality resolution. So if you break or lose your Google Pixel, your memories are still safely archived. Once you build up your photo collection, find the right photo on demand is also easy, thanks to Google’s algorithms that identify what your photo is. If you’re looking for pictures of flowers, for example, just type in flowers into the Google Photos search bar, and all your floral images will appear. Additionally, you can create labels and tags to help you further and easier identify images of friends and family members.